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Switching to a Split, Columnar Keyboard and Colemak layout

Introduction

Last year - in November - I took the leap into the world of split keyboards. I had been interested in them for a long time, but was quite happy with my HHKB Layout, and was trying to avoid spending more money. But, after joining a company that did frequent offsites, I was having to choose between lugging around an aluminum keyboard (Tofu v1 HHKB for those interested) that weighed about 5 pounds and didn’t fit properly in my backpack, or using the built-in keyboard on my MacBook.

With this in mind, when I heard a Changelog episode with the creator of the Voyager, I couldn’t get the idea of switching out of my head. After having the page open in my browser for about a month I finally pulled the trigger. I ended up ordering the keyboard itself plus the tripod mount, which I wasn’t sure I needed yet - but I wanted to avoid paying for shipping twice.

Colemak Layout

While I waited for my delivery, I ended up reprogramming a keyboard I already had (yes, I have too many) to the Colemak DH layout. I did this largely due to the advice from Erez on the Changelog episode, right at the beginning, which was to switch layouts before even buying anything. There are folks much more knowledgeable than me on this topic, but the basic gist is that the typical QWERTY layout found on most keyboards dates back to typewriters and is extremely inefficient. The philosophy behind Colemak is to put the keys you use the most closest to the homerow, so that your fingers don’t have to move as much. In addition to that, characters that are frequently used next each other in words are intentionally placed on different fingers so that the same finger doesn’t need to type two characters in a row as often. Finally, Colemak tries to do this while keeping as many keys in the same place as QWERTY to make it easier to switch. All in all, 17 keys change places between the two layouts.

In all honesty, this was probably a bigger change than switching to a new keyboard. As someone who has been typing pretty fast for a very long time, I was worried that my speed would suffer, as well as that I’d forget how to type on traditional keyboards. My typing speed definitely took a hit at first, but I did my best to stick with it and utilized some online typing games to try to help out. The typical suggestion here is to switch one set of characters at a time… but I totally ignored that sage wisdom and jumped in headfirst. My typing plummeted from 100-120wpm down to about 20-30, but over the course of about a week I was back up to about 50, where many people are anyways. I was already starting to “feel” what the eventual benefits would be which was great motivation to keep going. Over time, my speed has continued to increase, and I’m now up to about 100wpm, just below where I was with QWERTY.

Before I forget - the “Mod DH” part of my layout is a minor change to traditional Colemak. It moves a couple of the keys around to create a layout that is even more efficient than the original Colemak one. The details aren’t that important, and either option is a big improvement over QWERTY.

Why the Voyager

Along with the layout changes, I have been thinking of switching (no pun intended) to a split keyboard for many years. Before I got into mechanical keyboards, I was using a Microsoft Natural Ergonomic keyboard that was provided to me at work after I had some wrist pain from writing code all day. While the layout can be frustrating for some - especially if you don’t use the “correct” hand for all of your keys - I actually quite enjoyed having my wrists at a slant. After that, I became interested in splits when there were very few of them - the Ergodox and Kinesis Advantage being the main choice at that time. One of my friends actually got one back then, which I got to try, but found that it had a few more keys than I would prefer, making me move my fingers more than on my HHKB. Since that time, split boards have become much more popular - there are new options from existing companies, as well as totally new entrants. Keyboards like the Kinesis Advantage360, the Glove80, the Moonlander, and more all look like great options. On top of that, there are now a bunch of kits, like the Iris and Corne - options to fit anyone’s preferences.

The Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard

So, why did I pick the Voyager specifically as my split keyboard? It probably helped to hear the CEO of the company on a podcast I love, but it also seemed to have everything I was looking for:

Originally I was also intending to have my board be wireless. However, after listening to Erez on Changelog discuss why their boards aren’t wireless, I found myself nodding along, and decided to stick with a wired board, as I had already been doing anyways. That narrowed it down even more, and so I landed on the Voyager.

In my opinion, the main downside to it is the price. The Voyager is by no means a cheap keyboard aimed at those who are not sure of what they want. It is on the high end, but made of quality parts, and will last decades. With that in mind, I pulled the trigger. On the topic of tenting options, I have actually found the magnetic feet that the Voyager comes with provide a slight tent but one that is comfortable to me, so that is what I use the vast majority of the time.

One other minor note - I am not a huge fan of the default Choc switches that are available when purchasing a Voyager. This is mostly because I have used mechanical switches for a number of years and have gotten a little particular (most recently, lubed and filmed Gateron ink blacks). This was pretty easy to fix by ordering some Twilight switches… but, as the Voyager uses Choc v1 switches - which have been going out of style - I do wonder about being able to purchase extras years from now (so I stocked up a little bit).

Switching Between Boards and Layouts

Once I had placed my order, one of my main concerns was how difficult it would be to switch between my split, columnar-layout keyboard with a “weird” layout and a traditional keyboard or the one built-in to my laptop, which I still use from time to time. This was indeed a problem at first - before I felt “fluent” in Colemak, I would find myself getting confused for a bit when switching layouts.

However, now that I am comfortable with this board as a whole, it has not been a big problem. It might help for muscle memory that I only use Colemak with this specific board, and so my hands know the difference when they are split and angled - I’m not really sure. But what I do know is that for normal typing especially, when just typing messages or notes, I don’t get tripped up much. The main exception to this is in Vim - I am a Vim user and my fingers don’t always remember the difference when switching back to a standard QWERTY layout for my Vim commands. It doesn’t take too long to adjust, but does come up from time to time. I imagine if I were to use Vim on a QWERTY layout more often, I would adjust more quickly, but most of the time when I’m coding I want to use my Voyager anyways.

Conclusion / Retrospective

All in all I am very happy I went down this rabbit hole. It took some research, muscle training, and money, but I enjoy typing even more than before. I also find myself taking my Voyager with me more often to coffee shops or even across the house than I did with my traditional mechanical keyboard, as it is just easier to transport. If you are looking to do something similar, I highly recommend this keyboard, but also starting with switching to Colemak using your current keyboard as Erez suggested. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk keyboards!